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Looking into how much it'll cost me to get my bike painted. She is a blue color I am not too fond of. Need tank, both fenders, under seat covers, and front side covers painted. Some shops have quoted me $650-800.

That is a bit beyond what I can afford on a paint job. Especially for just a solid color. I was planning on doing smaller jobs myself such as the forks, exhausts, rims, etc...

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I paid a guy I know 500 to paint the tank and fenders. He did body work on the tank to get rid of all indentions. The paint he used cost 175 bucks. It's beautiful!!! I have a gorgeous sparkly blue bike now.

The guy quoted me 175 for just the tank, and I brought the fenders too. When I heard 500 was the final cost ... I nearly fainted. I was not happy. But when I saw how amazing a job was done, I felt better. He gave me the extra paint and it had the price tag of 175ish right on it.

EDIT: The reason I took it to a guy in the first place, was because my tank had a giant dent where the PO dropped a oil can on it. Wife convinced me to get it fixed while the bike was apart. I arranged for this body shop guy to do the tank. At the last minute I took him the fenders too so they would all match. I would have done my own paint if I didn't need body work done.

I would take a picture for you, but I have those items now at my friends for some custom paint. He is doing some pin stripes and 2 caricatures on the tank.

If you took your time and did it right, I think a rattle-can job would be fine. IMO, the highest visibility items are the tank and the front fender. You could do all the others yourself if it helps your budget.

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Rattle cans and do the prep work right, no short cuts. Don't try and rush it and put down light coats. Follow the directions on the can and use good quality paint like Duplicolor or VHT made by same company and have excellent phone support for any questions you might have.

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It's really going to depend...
You can save a pile of money if you do all the prep work yourself, and bring it in ready to spray. You may have to find a smaller shop willing to work with you. Big shops all seem to only be interested in doing insurance work. I know a guy that's sprayed a couple of cars for me years ago, and he only charged me $350 to do the whole car (two tone). There's also plenty of ways to do the whole job by yourself, if you're so inclined. If you search youtube, you'll find hundreds of videos on it. This guy is funny and shows some work on motorcycles:https://www.youtube.com/user/diyautoschool
Anyway, it is possible to get good paint job on a budget...it just mostly depends on your skills and how much labor you feel like throwing at it. If you're on a *really* tight budget you might do a google search for "car paint roller" or "paint roller car paint job" or something like that. For years people have used cheap alkyd enamel paint and basically a roller to put paint on cars...it's um, *very* labor intensive, but it does work. Just don't park it out in the sun a lot lol.

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Probably the biggest pitfall to painting your own bike is that you really need some sort of 2k type paint on your fuel tank or a few drops of gas will really make you sad as it trashes your paint job.

Good new is that SprayMax make some good clear coat that comes in a can, bad news is 2k paints are extremely corrosive to the human body, really should have full face protection, (eyes lungs skin etc) as well as gloves.

Read the forums and do your homework - forks, exhaust, rims are NOT the smaller or easier jobs.

Educate yourself first.....then ask questions. It's very do-able to paint a bike in your garage and have it look GREAT for roughly $200 in materials and with 30-50 hours of your time once you learn the basics.

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Probably the biggest pitfall to painting your own bike is that you really need some sort of 2k type paint on your fuel tank or a few drops of gas will really make you sad as it trashes your paint job.

Good new is that SprayMax make some good clear coat that comes in a can, bad news is 2k paints are extremely corrosive to the human body, really should have full face protection, (eyes lungs skin etc) as well as gloves.

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I rattle canned my ACE with Krylon Rust-Tough Enamal Semi-Flat; tank, fenders, side covers. That was 2-1/2, almost three years ago for the cost of about $20 ... no clearcoat. I've dripped/dropped/spilled fuel on the tank and it's been rode a lot since then in the hot/humid Florida sun. No issues ...

For the VLX, I used professional automotive paint and a sprayer. House of Kolors dark metal flake gold over black base and clearcoat. Cost? It was more than few hundred both for the paints and supplies and because I bought the gun, but already have a compressor. About $575. Obviously next time it will be less expensive. But the efforts and initial costs were worth it!

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I rattle canned my ACE with Krylon Rust-Tough Enamal Semi-Flat; tank, fenders, side covers. That was 2-1/2, almost three years ago for the cost of about $20 ... no clearcoat. I've dripped/dropped/spilled fuel on the tank and it's been rode a lot since then in the hot/humid Florida sun. No issues ...

That is great! Maybe the difference is the enamel paint but I've heard so many stories the other way around concerning fuel on rattle can that it scared me into using the 2k clear coat when I painted mine.

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enamel will hold up a LOT better than lacquer against fuel and such, this is true.

2K clear is great stuff if you like the glossy look and don't freak out at a $30 can of clearcoat......none of which matters if nobody makes it clear that catalyzed paint like SprayMax WILL KILL YOU if you use it incorrectly.

OP is clearly at the first word, of the first chapter, of the book of bike painting - any advice given should be metered out with appropriate care. Like when I said $200 to rattlecan a bike - unless he's got tape and tarps and ziplocks for bag/tag, and sandpaper, and thinner and primer, and degreaser and paint prep, and bondo/filler, and gloves and mask and and and and.....the first one's a little bit more money than the second one is all I'm saying....carry on my wayward sons.

AcedIt knows what he's doing - his threads are a great example of how to do this......RocksBlues learned a lesson the hard way and will be the first one to say 'learn from my mistakes'....I'm a big fan of rattlecanning a bike when done well.....but I've seen some atrocious spraybombs in my day too.....

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It's possible to do it yourself, like others have said the easiest way is with rattle-cans of enamel. The more durable/professional way is to use 2-part urethanes, which will hold up better over time against fuel spills and the elements.

To spray the 2-part urethanes you'll need a spray gun, air compressor, vapor mask, etc. Then the paint, which will be more expensive than the rattle cans.

Fortunately I have the setup to spray the urethanes and that's what I did with my bike.

The VLX 600 I bought had a rusted out tank. So I bought a different/bigger one:

Sanded it down and fixed the dent:

Black primer:

Blue Metallic:

Front fender and tank painted, and back on the bike:

Then my son bought it from me and wanted it black!!! So this is what it finally ended up like:

I did use black rattle-can caliper paint on the engine. It's holding up well so far.

Cost for blue base coat was $30 (pint), $99 for a gallon of the black 2-part satin black, and probably another $20-30 for caliper paint and materials, lacquer thinner, etc. I already had the clear coat (Nason 498-00) and some 2-part gloss black urethane for the frame. You can buy a lot of the 2-part urethane paint in quarts, which will save some money.

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I rattlecanned a black base, got some urethane red, graphite, and clear coat.
clear coated over the base a bit, used masking paper for the basic shape of my design, airbrushed that in, cleared over it once more, then used fine line tape to cover what color I wanted and went over it with a more natural looking black. again cleared.
let that cure for a while, then I mixed a couple drops of the graphite in with my clear for a very light dusting of metal flake. cleared over that a BUNCH of times, over a period of 2 weeks. so far so good, I may end up spraying even more clear after I get my fender and side covers done, just to get rid of the last bit I've got. no sense in letting it waste away

An easy way for the blind to go....................................................................As the snake is drowned, and as I look in her eyes
A clever path for the fools who know.............................................................My fear begins to fade, recalling all of the times
The secret of the Hanged Man - the smile of his lips..........................................I have died and will die, it's alright. I don't mind

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I payed $120.00 for the paint at O'Reilly Auto Parts,they don`t mix paint at there stores so i had to go to there warehouse,i already have cupguns,compressor,mask and the other stuff form when i painted a few yrs. ago.

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I am planning of using plastidip myself, to paint my tank and fenders. If you want to change the color just peel it off. There plenty of nice video tutorial in you tube. You can buy the plastidip at ace or walmart. Walmart is cheaper tho.

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So I've read that removing old paint down to bare metal is only needed if the part is rusted. Currently my only part that really needs new paint is the tank. It has scratches all over it and a large section is pealing. I am planning on sanding the paint down and will attempt painting from there. Gonna be diving in head first here soon

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So I've read that removing old paint down to bare metal is only needed if the part is rusted. Currently my only part that really needs new paint is the tank. It has scratches all over it and a large section is pealing. I am planning on sanding the paint down and will attempt painting from there. Gonna be diving in head first here soon

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Probably the biggest pitfall to painting your own bike is that you really need some sort of 2k type paint on your fuel tank or a few drops of gas will really make you sad as it trashes your paint job.

Good new is that SprayMax make some good clear coat that comes in a can, bad news is 2k paints are extremely corrosive to the human body, really should have full face protection, (eyes lungs skin etc) as well as gloves.

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If you plan to ever paint plastic chrome i had a problem w/my headlight bucket and side covers,i had to redo it w/etching primer other than that i sanded my tank completely down and my old paint job was in perfect condition,i just wanted something that no one else had,you might see blue bikes out there but you won`t see one w/the blue i have,i figured i modding the crap out of it might as well make it a one of a kind.

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